This book is the first in a two-volume edition of James Boswell's correspondence during a period that was one of the happiest and most productive of his life--from his return from the Grand Tour in February 1766 to his marriage in November 1769. During this time Boswell became a practicing lawyer, a best-selling author, a family man, and a landowner as Laird of Dalblair. The correspondence--some 742 letters--gives a new perspective on Boswell's personal and professional development as well as on society, politics, gender issues, crime, theater, industry, agriculture, domestic life, religion, philosophy, publishing, and much more. Volume I of the edition contains letters between Boswell and a rich diversity of correspondents, including Giuseppe Baretti, William Pitt the Elder, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Wilkes, and Zelide, the beautiful Dutch bluestocking. The texts have been transcribed from the original manuscripts. Carefully introduced and thoroughly annotated, the volume will be read with pleasure as well as for enlightenment.